Published on May 3, 2012 by PhnomPenhPost
Women are physically attacked by military officers as they try to submit a petition to the World Bank and European Union. Caught on camera by a bystander.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Is the Air Force's F-22 fighter jet making pilots sick?
May 6, 2012 4:00 PM
Two military pilots won't fly the F-22 Raptor, the Air Force's most sophisticated fighter plane, because they say a lack of oxygen during flight is causing disorientation and worse. Lesley Stahl reports.
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Friday, May 11, 2012
Workers waiting for a bargain
Angkor Beer promoters strike last year in Phnom Penh. Photograph: Meng Kimlong/Phnom Penh Post
Dave Welsh, country director of the American Center for International Labor Solidarity, said the law’s latest draft allowed the associations many of these informal workers are already in to be pushed to their “full logical conclusion”: a working union.
Anti-loggers held back by FA officials
Activists arrive last night at the Wat Thmei pagoda in Koh Kong town, where they planned to stay the night before proceeding today to the area where activist Chut Wutty was shot last month. Photograph: May Titthara/Phnom Penh Post
But hundreds of others from six provinces in a convoy of 27 vans made it to the provincial capital where they were to spend the night at Wat Thmey then travel to Mondul Seima district’s Bak Khlang commune today for a ceremony for Chut Wutty at Veal Bei point.
Chhim Savuth, a co-ordinator for public forums at the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, said villagers travelling from Koh Kong, Kampong Speu and Stung Treng provinces were all blocked.
IRI survey finds Cambodian majority optimistic over future
Motorists watch as construction workers build a bridge over the Tonle Sap river in Phnom Penh last month. Poll respondents pointed to such projects as evidence Cambodia is headed in the right direction. Photograph: Hong Menea/Phnom Penh Post
Key reasons respondents gave for their upbeat assessment included the building of more roads, bridges, health clinics and schools.
For the 19 per cent who think the country is headed in the wrong direction, the prime culprits were corruption, nepotism and high commodity prices.
UN's Subedi 'worried' by violence against activists
Surya Subedi, the UN special rapporteur on human rights, speaks to the Post yesterday. Photograph: Joseph Pocs/Phnom Penh Post
Citing several incidents, the United Nations Special Rapporteur in Cambodia today called a recent pattern of violence against human rights activists in the Kingdom a “worrying trend.”
“These individuals assume great risk in undertaking their work and are entitled to protection by the state,” Surya Subedi said at a press conference that bookended his seventh human rights fact-finding trip to the country.
Under his mandate, Subedi conducts research missions and presents an annual report to the United Nations Human Rights Council in September.
Agencies Suspend Philippines Travel
2012-05-11
Tour companies in China halt their services as tensions heat up over a disputed island.
Activists hold a protest in front of the Chinese Consular Office in Manila, April 16, 2012.
Travel agencies in a number of key Chinese cities have suspended services to the Philippines where anti-China protests were staged Friday amidst an increasingly tense standoff between the two nations over a disputed island in the South China Sea.
Tourist firms, including China’s biggest travel agency, China International Tour Service (CITS), have now stopped operations to the Philippines in Dalian, in northeastern Liaoning province, Guangzhou, in southeastern Guangdong province, and Shanghai, as well as a number of other cities.
Agence France Presse quoted an employee at the CITS Beijing branch as confirming the halt to travel.
"We stopped organizing for tourists to go to the Philippines because of the current situation," the employee said.
Tourist firms, including China’s biggest travel agency, China International Tour Service (CITS), have now stopped operations to the Philippines in Dalian, in northeastern Liaoning province, Guangzhou, in southeastern Guangdong province, and Shanghai, as well as a number of other cities.
Agence France Presse quoted an employee at the CITS Beijing branch as confirming the halt to travel.
"We stopped organizing for tourists to go to the Philippines because of the current situation," the employee said.
Forest Ceremony for Slain Activist
Supporters carrying incense, branches, and photos of Chut Wutty take part in a memorial forest patrol in Koh Kong province, May 11, 2012.
2012-05-11
Honoring environmentalist Chut Wutty, supporters patrol the forest where he was killed.
More than 400 activists marched Friday to the forest site where prominent Cambodian anti-logging campaigner Chut Wutty was killed and held a memorial ceremony there, as a visiting U.N. rights official called for justice in the case that has sparked a national outcry.
The group, hailing from ten provinces across the country, marched through the forest in Mondul Seima district of southern Cambodia’s Koh Kong province where Chut Wutty was investigating illicit logging operations when he was fatally shot on April 26.
Carrying tree branches and, in lieu of flowers, sticks of incense, they stopped at the site where the environmentalist, former president of Cambodia’s Natural Resources Conservation Group, was allegedly gunned down by a military police officer who was also found dead at the scene.
Chut Wutty’s son, Chhoeuy Odomraksmey, 19, teared up while reading a tribute to his father at the crime scene, while supporters, some carrying posters and photographs saying, “I am Chut Wutty,” prayed for the activist.
Cambodian Center for Human Rights Director Ou Virak, who organized the ceremony and march, said the gathering is meant to show that activists in the country will not be intimidated despite the threat of violence.
The group, hailing from ten provinces across the country, marched through the forest in Mondul Seima district of southern Cambodia’s Koh Kong province where Chut Wutty was investigating illicit logging operations when he was fatally shot on April 26.
Carrying tree branches and, in lieu of flowers, sticks of incense, they stopped at the site where the environmentalist, former president of Cambodia’s Natural Resources Conservation Group, was allegedly gunned down by a military police officer who was also found dead at the scene.
Chut Wutty’s son, Chhoeuy Odomraksmey, 19, teared up while reading a tribute to his father at the crime scene, while supporters, some carrying posters and photographs saying, “I am Chut Wutty,” prayed for the activist.
Cambodian Center for Human Rights Director Ou Virak, who organized the ceremony and march, said the gathering is meant to show that activists in the country will not be intimidated despite the threat of violence.
Cambodian-American Group Lobbies for Political Change
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| Prom Saunora and his delegation have so far met with representatives of the UN and of US institutions including think tanks and the State Department. (Photo: by VOA Khmer) |
Wednesday, 09 May 2012
Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer | Washington, DC
“There is no point in going, because the Cambodian People’s Party will still win the election.”
A Cambodian-American group in the US has begun lobbying Washington institutions in an effort to affect political change in Cambodia ahead of national elections there next year.
Group leader Prom Saunora told VOA Khmer they are working to improve human rights and free speech, curb corruption and improve border and immigration issues.
Failure to pay attention to these issues could result unrest like the Arab Spring, he said. “This will lead to bloodshed.”
Prom Saunora also warned of Cambodians becoming disillusioned with the election process, with the potential of boycotting future polls if more is not done to reform it. Current elections are heavily skewed toward the ruling party, he said.
“There is no point in going, because the Cambodian People’s Party will still win the election,” he said. “This will lead to the collapse of our democracy.”
Prom Saunora and his delegation have so far met with representatives of the UN and of US institutions including think tanks and the State Department.
“We have demanded reform at the National Election Committee to make it independent,” he said. The group advised having more participation from international experts during the election process, working with local parties and NGOs to form an independent election monitoring body.
“Once this change is possible, it can put pressure on the government to change other issues that are not in compliance with the Paris Peace Agreement,” he said.